Devotional: Do Not Fret

A storm system sweeps across the southeast, spawning tornadoes and lashing the landscape with wind, rain, and hail.

Elsewhere, wars brew. Politicians bicker. Children starve or are exploited for the pleasure of others.

So much going on in the world at the moment. So much in people’s personal lives. I’m overwhelmed just contemplating the prayer needs of those closest to me.

But if I had not believed I would see Your good in the land of living ... if I didn’t know that God is perfectly good, perfectly wise, perfectly in charge ... ­ I would have lost heart.

We are not the ones in charge of this world, nor are we required to be. That alone provides some relief—knowing I’m not responsible for the success of my little circle of influence. I’m responsible for praying, for trusting, for expending the effort in the work God gives me, but not for the outcome. Yet sometimes life spins out of control, and the state of affairs across the face of this earth seems to be particularly crazy recently. It’s unsettling at the least.

And yet, it isn’t anything new. During times of great political and social upheaval, people have always been sure the end of the world is imminent.

Never more so than now, though, I’m sure.

And where is God, while the world falls apart? When injustice and horror are pandemic, yet people entertain themselves with the obscene and frivolous?

He knows. He sees. And He takes note of each detail.

Do not fret because of evildoers,
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
² For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.

³ Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
⁶ He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.

⁷ Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
⁸ Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.

⁹ For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the Lord,
They shall inherit the earth.
¹⁰ For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;
Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,
But it shall be no more.
¹¹ But the meek shall inherit the earth,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

¹² The wicked plots against the just,
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
¹³ The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees that his day is coming.
¹⁴ The wicked have drawn the sword
And have bent their bow,
To cast down the poor and needy,
To slay those who are of upright conduct.
¹⁵ Their sword shall enter their own heart,
And their bows shall be broken.

¹⁶ A little that a righteous man has
Is better than the riches of many wicked.
¹⁷ For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
But the Lord upholds the righteous.

¹⁸ The Lord knows the days of the upright,
And their inheritance shall be forever.
¹⁹ They shall not be ashamed in the evil time,
And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
²⁰ But the wicked shall perish;
And the enemies of the Lord,
Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish.
Into smoke they shall vanish away.

(Psalm 37, NKJV)

(First appeared 4/14/13. Psalm 27:13, above, is my paraphrase.)